The act specifically would set a limit of one overdraft fee per month per customer and six per year. The bill also calls for overdraft fees to be reasonable and scaled to the amount of the overdraft.

A typical account overdraft fee is $35, charged by the bank. The consumer could go one penny beyond the amount in their checking/debit account with a $2 purchase and still have to pay $35 to the bank. The merchant who took the check also could charge a fee for a bounced check.

The bill also would prohibit bank manipulation of the order in which charges are subtracted from account balances. Some banks subtract the largest check and debit amounts first and the smallest amounts last to maximize the chance that nonsufficient funds would trigger a fee.

When banks cover checks and debit accounts that go into overdraft, it is the same as a loan. Banks can charge what they want for that loan with overdraft protection services that consumers can opt into.

Some consumer advocates say overdraft protection policies at banks are as damaging to consumers as payday loans. The fees can rise dramatically if overdraft customers do not cover the loans immediately.

Some banks or credit unions are more flexible and do not charge anything within certain limits.

If consumers do not opt into overdraft protection, debit charges can be rejected at the point of sale. Consumers do not pay a fee for the denial of payment, but the consumers cannot purchase the goods or services at that moment.

The Consumer Federation of America, based in Washington, last year released reports that state that the people who can least afford to pay the fees are the most likely to incur them.

A survey conducted for the federation says 40 percent of bank customers with low balances, below $500, said they had gone into overdraft within the past two years. The percentage drops to 3 percent for checking/debit account customers who maintained balances of at least $1,000.

Low-income wage earners are least likely to have direct deposit for their paychecks, making deposits less regular and leaving accounts more vulnerable to overdraft fees.

Banks might argue that if customers don't like their banks' overdraft fee policies, they can always change banks.

But too much of the U.S. working population remains unbanked because bank fees in general are unaffordable to many households and because there is little choice in their neighborhoods or workplaces. Being unbanked makes people more vulnerable to theft.

Ideally, Congress should weigh consumer fairness with the banks' right to pursue profit margins for their services.

More practically, banks collectively have more lobbyists than consumers do, making the Overdraft Protection Act a steep climb for passage.

Consumers likely will have to be more careful in monitoring their account balances if they don't want to be stung by overdraft fees.